04/09/2018 - Ball-shaped into Spring

Winter is history. Because the New Zealand spring started in early September, finally! - But what sets it apart here? The trees are slowly starting to bloom, the meadows appear greener than ever before, and local vegetables and fruits are (again) taking over in the supermarkets. However, if you ask a New Zealander, they mainly associate spring with rain. And that's how it is. But besides all the precipitation, the fact that the campsites raised their prices back to peak season rates hit us even harder.

We spent the last few days in "Hamilton" and its surroundings. During the rainy hours, we usually went to the library. Or to one of the shopping centers in Hamilton City. Since parking in parking garages is free on Sundays, we headed to one of them. Apparently, others had the same idea. In the end, the crowds were so big that the entire parking garage got stuck - there was no going forward or backward. The newly arriving vehicles blocked the path for the cars already leaving due to the unfortunate layout. It took a hopelessly overwhelmed parking attendant to successfully untangle the mess after fifteen minutes.
Recovered from the stress, Tobi treated himself to his last haircut in New Zealand. Afterwards, we strolled through various shops. It has been a long time - since we simply don't need any clothes or other trinkets, we rarely visit shopping centers. However, we really liked the wide selection of decorative and, above all, crafting supplies! The prices were tempting and the assortment was diverse. With heavy hearts, we ended our walk empty-handed.

When the sun peeked through the rain clouds for a moment, we visited the "Best Ice Cream Parlor in New Zealand". We are very cautious with such descriptions. However, there's a lot of good things being said about it, so we wanted to get our own impression on site. For lovers of classic ice cream flavors like vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, a visit to "Duck Island Ice Cream" might be disappointing. Because there are many creations here - but they're not simple. Tobi chose "Salted Sesame Praline" and "Salted Mango-Coconut". He realized that his taste experience could be a bit savory at the latest when he licked it. ;) I chose "Blackberry Cheesecake" and "Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie", which catapulted me straight into ice cream heaven. Yummyy!
Apart from the still relatively mild flavors, there are also crazy variations like "Coconut with Ash". No matter what you choose from the wide range, you're most likely not going to go wrong. :)

And since bad weather becomes more bearable with good food, we also went to the weekly market. Although Hamilton is the seventh largest city in New Zealand, the market was relatively small. Nevertheless, we found something and packed silverbeet (with sun-dried tomatoes for fettuccine) for dinner and treated ourselves to three different types of bread for breakfast. Ciabatta, potato, and fig-walnut bread sweetened our start to the day. :)

In addition, we can proudly announce that our blankets were finally stored under the bed. The temperatures no longer drop below the 5°C mark at night - and gradually it got quite warm under the additional blanket.